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All posts for the month July, 2011

This is a song from Footpath (1953) that I’ve watched a few times tonight. I knew of a few other songs from this film (it’s one of the reasons for the name of this blog), though I still haven’t had a chance to watch the whole movie, assuming I ever will… But for some reason, I didn’t know about, or didn’t remember, this song. And it is a good one! I did a little reading up on it, and I’ve learned that this was Asha Bhosle’s very first cabaret number. I am also learning a little more about the music director, Khayyam, who is a very interesting person. But I could not find anyone positively identifying the dancer… (Yes, I know that is somebody I should recognize but for some reason just am not here…) Anyway, this one gets a place in my list of favorite black-and-white cabaret numbers, which I’m going to have to post sometime soon.

When I put the previous list together and I thought about Parineeta, I thought about this song. But, no, I said to myself, that was sung by Asha. Well, as it turns out, it was sung by Asha and it was sung by Geeta! Only the Geeta version was not put in the film… Which doesn’t matter with the version I got, because this song was completely left out of the DVD! But, in any event, for anyone who may have missed it, here is the song sung by both Geeta and Asha. (Now, who does it better? Hmm… Personally, I like Geeta’s singing more.)

Now for ten Uma Devi songs in videos/film clips… Not ranking them this time; let’s just say they’re almost all equally good…

From Dard, a catchy, upbeat kind of song that occurs near the beginning, long before we see Suraiya, who people might be inclined in retrospect to consider as the star of the film… It is picturized on Munawar Sultana – the Indian actress, not to be confused with the Pakistani playback singer (thanks to frequent commenter Mr. Jinx for clarifying that). And it is delightfully addictive to watch and listen to… “Machi Hai Dhoom” is one of those songs that, every time I hear it, really gets stuck in my head…

But when Suraiya finally does show up, she does a duet with Uma Devi, the results are even more splendid! I think this is my favorite of the songs from Dard…

Of course, Uma Devi also has another big solo classic from Dard (one which I’ve noticed, for some reason, has been subject to a few contemporary remixes)…

From Chandralekha… All of her songs in this are lovely sounding, but I like this one in particular because I like T.R. Rajakumari’s little dance.

Though for the sheer sweetness of Uma Devi’s voice, maybe this one is even better…

Come to think of it, maybe it’s impossible to pick a favorite among the songs from Chandralekha… I like this one a lot too, and the picturization at one point kind of reminds me of some songs in a later Gemini movie, Mr. Sampat…

The same year that Uma Devi sang all these great songs in Chandralekha – i.e., 1948 – she also did those two fine songs for Anokhi Ada. Let me re-post the video for “Kahe Jiya Dole”… In addition to the delightful music (which is by Naushad, just like all those soundtracks that she starred in with Suraiya), I am very fond of the picturization for its unmistakably unglamorous qualities. Seeing that this was a Mehboob Khan film, was this a “dress rehearsal” for those famous scenes of mud-covered Nargis that would hit the theaters nine years later? Unfortunately, though I don’t think much is known about this particular actress and her earthly charms. (In comments the other day, Mr. Jinx pointed out that it’s Zeb Qureshi, Shyam’s mysterious sister-in-law…) But in any event, it should be obvious that I’m becoming fascinated by this picturization. Don’t you just love those eye movements? And Uma Devi’s voice seems just right for her!

And here’s the scene for the other Uma Devi song from Anokhi Ada… I don’t really like the sound of this song as much, but I realized, I love the look of the sets. Maybe I will try to find the entire film sometime. (Looking at the plot summary, I see… Oh, this is another one of those accident-causing-memory-loss-leads-to-love-triangle films…with Mehboob Khan-ian references to the harshness of poverty. Looks OK…)

And now back to the Suraiya films… This item is “cheating” a little, because it’s not a film clip. There were no film clips available for the movie, Natak (1947). But this is a nice slideshow, starting with a picture of Uma Devi herself, after which. there is a series of very attractive film stills, though some of them have nothing to do with the movie. (Geeta Bali was definitely not in this film!) But among the slideshows availabe for the song “Dilwale Jal Jal Kar Hi Mar Jana” (and there are quite a few, actually), this one is still the best.

Now… How many times have I posted the next clip? However many, I’m happy to do so again. I’ve emphasized this as a Shamshad Begum song, but there’s that other voice – Uma Devi’s, of course – which complements Shamshad’s so well, in this very unusual song that is one of my all-time favorite numbers by Naushad.

On her 88th birth anniversary, I would like to pay tribute to Uma Devi aka Tun Tun via some posts focused specifically on her very charming and delightful singing.

Now, I like Tun Tun just fine, but I have to admit that this performer didn’t register anywhere close to my own list of classic Hindi film favorites before I became aware of her as the singer Uma Devi. Of course, she was the singer known as Uma Devi first, but it’s often the case that the earlier films and songs come later to those of us who arrived much later and from a different location…

And I have been appreciating the voice of Uma Devi more and more lately. It’s a shame that she was discouraged from singing at some time to the point where she had to remake herself as a comedienne, playing perhaps too many fat jokes. Accounts I’ve read blame it on a combination of personal disputes, some major mistakes she made in the business (e.g., I think she broke a contract in order to sing in Chandralekha), and her unfortunate timing, as she reached her peak at the dawn of the era of Lata Mangeshkar. But, still, no explanation seems adequate to me. She should have been singing prominently for a long, long time.

In my own experience, I got to appreciate quite a few of Uma Devi’s songs strictly through listening first, because I actually got to download the songs as MP3s via some of my favorite blogs BEFORE I saw or searched out the films and song clips. And that’s one big reason why I want to share some audio links for this particular “Bollywood birthday” celebration – because those sites did a great deal to facilitate my own quite recent discovery of Uma Devi.

One soundtrack in which I got to hear some fine Uma Devi songs (four of them, by my count, if you include duets) was Dard, which I was able to download via Parties, Sarees and Melodies. (This blog was very significant in my Bollywood music education of the past several years, but it’s been dormant for a year and not really active for a couple of years. Are you coming back, Stella 1?) Although I first recognized this soundtrack as one of the great Naushad-Suraiya accomplishments, I soon realized that the songs on here which were possibly the best were sung by Uma Devi. (They were picturized on Munawar Sultana, who I think would have been completely overshadowed in this film by her co-star Suraiya, had Munawar not been “singing” such delightful songs throughout.)

One Web site that has been exceptional in providing Uma Devi Mp3s is Indian Baja, which offers a couple of really nice songs from Anokhi Ada (one of which I just posted the other day) and no less than five great Uma Devi songs from Chandralekha. (There is one song included that doesn’t have Uma Devi, but I can’t complain – it’s got a duet of T.A. Moti singing with Zohrabai Ambalewali!) In addition, this site has a special Uma Devi post that contains her two solo hits from Dard as well as songs from Natak (1947) and Chandni Raat (1949). That post also contains some nice biographical material, and, by the way, every post on this site is presented in an aesthetically pleasing manner. (Nicely organized, with pretty graphics to accompany often beautiful music.)

Now, I am certain that you can also find a bunch of good Uma Devi songs on Surjit Singh’s Hindi film songs site. In fact, I have already found his copy of the songs from Anokhi Ada. But due to the way that the site is, well, organized, it might take some time searching songs out. (Surjit Singh’s site actually has been a terrific source of soundtracks for me, especially for pre-partition songs by Noor Jehan and early songs by Shamshad Begum. But due to time limitations, I don’t think I could possibly do the sorting needed to find the other Uma Devi songs and get this post up while it is still Uma Devi’s birthday.)

And speaking of time limitations… I am also afraid that Uma Devi’s birthday will have passed by the time I find and post a bunch of my favorite film clips (especially if I even try to rank them). But, then again, why not celebrate Uma Devi’s birthday for a couple of days (or a few)? It’s become clear to me that as a singer, she just isn’t remembered today nearly as well as she should be.

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P.S. Speaking of the songs she should be remembered for, I should mention one more place where I found Uma Devi doing a great vocal bit for Naushad before I saw the film or video clips. The stie in this case is Music from the Third Floor, through which I was able to get Dillagi. Now, this soundtrack is known as another one of the Naushad-Suraiya classics – as well it should be – but there is one song in which Uma Devi does a wonderful duet with Shamshad Begum. (I’ve posted it in video before, and I will again – just think of a mischievous gang of women philosophizing about love and life while they do some kite flying…)

On July 4, Shemaroo Vintage (which apparently is a new channel) uploaded a bunch of ’40s and early ’50s movies in full (or close to in-full with some parts coming up a little later in some cases, I suspect). These include Lal Haveli (1944), Dard (1947), Andaz (1949), Sheesh Mahal (1950), Dilruba (1950), and Dahej (1950). Unfortunately, there are no English subtitles, so for people who don’t know Hindi, it might be a challenge watching films on this channel here.

Tonight, I watched Lal Haveli. I thought I might write a little about what I gathered of the plot and story, but I decided not to, because I just did not have an easy time trying to follow it. (It was easier when I watched Zeenat and Jugnu without subs, but I had seen plot descriptions of those in advance (unlike with Lal Haveli), and I think that Zeenat, especially, was just easier to follow. Or maybe I was just less tired.) Also, I’m not really sure if I got to see the whole movie yet. (It stopped at Part 11, but it did not say “The End.”) Maybe another part or two will go up in a few days, and it will make everything crystal clear to me. Though I doubt it!

Still, there were certainly things that I enjoyed about watching this film – though these were things that I knew about already, after having seen so many song clips (and some other scenes that had also gone up on YouTube before). In fact, I think I’ve praised Lal Haveli enough already, for Noor Jehan, especially, a bit for Surendra, and also for the amazing Baby Meena (who has a substantial role in the beginning, playing Noor Jehan’s character as a child). This time, I could add that I also found Yakub to be quite amusing (as he often is) and it’s also always interesting to see Ulhas.

In any event, maybe there are some Hindi speakers out there who actually haven’t seen Lal Haveli before who might be able to enjoy it here. If you don’t mind watching vintage films on YouTube, then this channel in general could be quite a treat.

As for me, maybe some day I will be able to understand these non-subbed films better, too. As I’ve mentioned to a couple of people, in the past month or two, I have seriously launched into an effort to learn Hindi, and I’ve been checking out some CD sets for the purpose as well as a couple of books. But I do have a long way to go, obviously…

Though that won’t stop me from watching Dard next! Maybe I will tomorrow or the next day… Considering that I am planning to do an Uma Devi birthday post of some kind by Monday, it could come in handy. And with Dard, as with Lal Haveli, I have already listened to the soundtrack many dozens of times.

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